FLOODING over summer has put a dampener on tourism at a time when accommodation is usually fully booked and retail and hospitality operators are usually run off their feet.
Mildura Lawn Tennis Club’s grass courts and three golf courses in Sunraysia are still under water, with each facing a lengthy clean-up.
The big Murray Darling 110 ski event, where top-class competitors race for the Ted Hurley trophy, is the latest casualty of the floods.
It was originally scheduled to run in late October but was postponed to late January due to the river conditions, but these have since worsened in the region.
On the heels of the pandemic, it’s an economic blow we didn’t need.
However, with river levels starting to recede, there is hope on the horizon for Mildura – and it will largely be driven by events.
The big power sports weekend over Easter will hopefully be the ignition point at which we really come back to life.
A week after Easter, another event could lift spirits in Mildura: the inaugural “Dreamtime at the P” rep footy clash between Sunraysia and the NT Redtails.
This will pit the cream of Sunraysia’s footballers – including returning AFL players Sam Kerridge, Matt Dea and Jarrod Brander – against what’s expected to be a fast-and-furious NT outfit featuring former North Melbourne small forward Matty Campbell.
Driven by a small independent group of former local players, the Dreamtime concept promises to be a sporting and entertainment extravaganza.
Apart from senior, junior and women’s football, there’ll be rep netball, along with live music. It will be an exciting way to usher in the SFNL season, which will begin a week after the Dreamtime day.
This could be the best local senior footy season in many years with the quality and depth at most clubs on the rise.
If the SFNL A Grade netball season is anything like 2022’s, it will be another cracker.
The Sunraysia Cricket Association season resumes today after the Christmas break.
It’s also promising to have a top second half of the season, with Gol Gol favourites to be crowned First Division champions.
Other sports, including basketball (Big V), soccer and hockey, will soon be firing up their pre-season jets, too.
If your spirits have been sagging a bit lately, which is understandable due to flooding, extreme heat and other living pressures, I encourage you to think about all of the great sporting things we have in store this year.
Leave politics out of local sport
ONE of my biggest bugbears is how politics and personal agendas get in the way of delivering for the greater good of sports at a local level.
The SFNL board is one example of this.
The division in the ranks played out for most of the 2022 season, and it doesn’t seem to have improved since the new board was elected early last month.
Just before Christmas, senior officials were invited to attend the launch of the Sunraysia representative leadership group for the “Dreamtime at the P” clash on April 15 at Mildura Sporting Precinct.
But despite assurances that one of the executive would be in attendance for the media call, no official turned up.
The independent organisers of the event were disappointed, to say the least.
They want a show of unity from the league as they attempt to revive rep footy.
On another front, re-elected SFNL president Paul Matheson is refusing to be interviewed by Sunraysia Daily.
I requested an interview with Matheson shortly after he was re-elected as president on December 4 but I’ve had no response from him in the past month.
Matheson unsuccessfully ran as the Liberal candidate in the seat of Mildura in the November state election.
It was reported by The Age that he engaged in a tryst with a colleague and lied to those who investigated it.
He was charged with a breach under the Victoria Police Act and demoted to uniform sergeant after admitting that he lied to investigators when he initially denied the relationship.
Sunraysia Daily followed up this story in the public interest and reported on it.
We gave Matheson every opportunity to comment but he declined to do so.
Before the election campaign, Matheson was the public face and voice of the SFNL board.
Now he is refusing to be interviewed by the media outlet which gives unrivalled coverage to football and netball in this region.
In re-electing Matheson, the board has endorsed his leadership.
But it has failed to answer the question of how it plans to promote its sports in the media if its own president maintains a code of silence.
The players and the fans deserve an explanation – or a new president.
Recognition for footy coverage
ON A brighter note, I want to pass on my appreciation for the support I’ve received in my first full year of covering sport in Sunraysia.
Working for a paper like Sunraysia Daily is why I chose this career in the late 1990s.
We hope we tell the local stories that matter to you.
I was fortunate enough to win an AFL Victoria media award last month for a feature I wrote on Robinvale footballer Isaiah Johnson in August.
This sort of recognition is nice, but the real satisfaction and privilege for me comes in hearing and reporting the inspirational life stories of people like Izzy.
My sports colleagues Mitch Rodd and Sarah Buchecker and I look forward to reporting more stories in 2023 that can help make a difference in the community.
